Bird Image Art on Wine Bottle Labels

Take a stroll down any supermarket wine aisle and you can’t help but notice the use of birds in wine label art. The images range from silly to classic, but they do seem to have universal appeal-- not too wild, but wild enough.

Amateur naturalist, Patrick Belardo, has been blogging about bird art wine labels since 2007 on his Hawk Owls Nest website. He’s even collected photos and posted them on flickr.

Birds represent flight, freedom, joy, and now, wine. Many of the images are comforting, uplifting, and presumably put you in the mood to connect with that nice little wine buzz you get after a few glasses. Owls seem to be a favorite, maybe because they are wise and awake at night, just like many wine-drinkers. There is certainly a gamut of bird alter-egos, the clever magpie, cocky rooster, soaring gulls, but the one I find most interesting is the Hellacious Acres vulture. Are we to assume that this wine goes well with road-kill, or is it a more subtle warning of some impending wine-induced doom?

The mystery remains.

One thing is certain however, with more micro-wineries appearing every year, we can expect the genre of birds as label art to continue to expand. With the increased variety of artful brands, you may want to preserve your labels in a wine journal as demonstrated in the video above. Once done, raise your glass and give a toast to our decorative feathered friends, salute!